Efficiency....what methods do you use to make a job go easier?

Comedian Dave Attell had a comedy bit that went something like this:

I was on the street the other day looking left, then right when a man came up to me to offer some help. Hey man, are you lost?
Now, this man hadn't bathed in quite awhile and looked terrible. He only had one tooth and he wasn't even trying to take good care of that....I figure if I'm going to ask for directions, it wasn't going to be from a guy with ONE TOOTH, it would be from the guy with ONE LEG. He knows where the short cuts are and there won't be any stairs either!